'Sharing' hog manure: Not exactly the neighborly thing to do

Report Calls for Better Animal Waste Treatment

by Ben Block on April 30, 2008, Worldwatch

One step beyond her front door, Jayne Clampitt is greeted with the toxic fumes flowing from the roughly 1 million gallons of hog manure stored at her neighbor's farm. She no longer dries her family's laundry outside, her children avoid the nearby polluted stream, and she worries that their shallow drinking well will also be contaminated with toxins.

"We thought there was this unspoken connection between farmers, respect and stewardship. But we don't see that anymore," said Clampitt, whose family raises livestock in northwest Iowa. "I should not be forced to move out of my home."

Clampitt was flown to Washington, D.C., this week to speak at the release of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production's two-and-a-half year study on U.S. livestock production. The report calls for an overhaul of farm-animal regulations to better treat the mounting waste. The commission also recommends the end to many unsustainable farming practices that are affecting rural residents like Clampitt and having an impact on food security, public health, animal welfare, and environmental resources worldwide.

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